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#Emp•. ..04218*< *Ft'·IN•' One Reader's Opinion The "dioramist" in model railroading By Lee Vande Visse - 41/1 '- """ '"I.4\ -79k #elf--9=.*e:..,./ =9»= 1- +-S .. L-N 7 .< ,*1.:Wl254ee.·. ht.:/32..-5 . :-iiii ;i:•nt'..# *r ddpi*16. .1.1' .el P .9 -1 j .* 1 ·. AME#036,4 -·· T., · %··S>••·•F..·····- This is my side of the hobby, the dioramist side. I believe it's populated by others like me, who may never use the yards on our railroads for much else than storing bad-order cars, but enjoy the pure pleasure of running trains through our landscapes. For us the model railroad is just one large model, a personal creation, even artwork. It theage of 50 years I still get a kick out of watching mag- It's a sculpture in basswood, Hydrocal, and styrene. •netic couplers do their thing. I like walking a train back, In our workshops we usually have a collection of unbuilt i•then carefully positioning the knuckles over a hidden kits that would require many lifetimes to build, but then we magnet, and watching the car remain motionless as the also have several projects in various forms of completion on engine pulls away. Maybe I have a low threshold for amuse- the workbench at any one time. Our favorite part of MODEL ment, or maybe I remember too well the old days when RAILROADER Magazine is Trackside Photos. "hand" uncoupling meant taking one or several cars off the track to separate them. So maybe deep down inside me there really is a model railroad "operationalist" waiting to. escape. Certainly I admire those modelers who run their trains in a realistic manner. They · switch cars into trains with precision and dis- patch them to points far distant to have them switched again, until finally they arrive at their destinations. At the end of an evening, every car be miniature transportation systems. By some viewpoints this is the end-all of the hobby, the' true faith and function of tproper model rall- roading. Clearly this type of operation ta•s .,•(:.S::, ..•••036••.•F•••21 considemble thought and planning, includirlk •,31;1•ttbd'.·'f6·554, thedevelopment of afunctional tradgplanthat ·,•4•Ili44212•036••.'.3:•':f«F...:11 can support realistic train movements. It is an .1.-33•1.9.'/£*I.-,-3012.:2' 4) i tt. , . .. . I .. .'..rk:'' 1 '/: , . ,( -••---·<, i 1 --'/111 .lili ' /'I'/' ' 1 j. ·.PTEE •.:.: :t.,ix »»'•. ·,--, f - .r',. E-• -i' 1 214• 4*f•.,•f 5••...» •94*-,<••:<:i-••.••:GE--#iW21•*-•:••5•2.220••*• . 2W••46 ... fist:.3• 432<2·,4.ic«:2:··At:':.,-.:·fi:F.,4te.:5'-•2/*I,L..1 31/deth'&-•,·.._--. 1- '. and engine is in its proper place. These operators' model railroads arebuilt t° r:7«·.·i>i.•:.'3<,)::«-':. F -f· <w:'(&,:.T .9, .. ., 'ip. 510:48 )•.•4•,•.•••••4,1-•--i• *,,•,c•,,• ......, ,• .//1.le//%IM: -e-, '<. 9•... ...../45,77 -r - 9;- - -_ ,Im,./7 ''· 1.61.':f#31'Z'*f ' art in itself and has my admiration. 1•*.•••X I've never gotten that far, des'pite the fact that i•.'4/•.•C•4••:-ff•·:;j•S;•*.-7*9f.'.Qf••1£•F•II •oen:Iu•tw• 5dgeupmloo•••nr••ta•sc•on•••rp•e• -••5*,10.'efet:-,ey,,1.,•",*•'•• end of the hobby, structures and scenery. .CE•dh,/b:,6-•4./jE·' It might be more to the point to call myself a "dioramist," a person who enjoys the con- struction end-of the hobbymore than the operh!•7# liC'.1,11,·'i.14•--1"6•"-'-• -mi/F•.///M/•••/r#/--9.-;•,S- '*••.•••491·*f*%'i,At• LEE VANDE VISSE ation, even if I'm viewed with disdain by When Lee puts his feet up to watch his trains run, this On3 railroad is what he sees. modelers on the other side. I'm a marked man with super glue under my fingernails. My trains not only There are many ways to enjoy the hobby and many types of don't run on time, they don'treally go anywhere. Ill admitit, people in it. No doubt this is one of model railroading's great I've spent 30 years watching them go in circles. attractions. Occasionally we also find that what we truly enjoy in this hobby isn't what we started out to do. Don't The high point of my evening, or even my hobby, comes when despair if your major enjoyment is a finely detailed building I have my feet up, coffee cup in hand, and I'm watching a or the perfect tree. Just attach your alligator clips and let train slowly ply its way around loop after repeating loop, your trains roll on! through my proudly completed scenery and buildings. Why, I even hold my breath while the locomotive makes its way Always interested in your thoughts, I'd be glad to have you eacross a spindly trestle with real water Rowing over the mail me at 1vandevisse@kalmbach.com. 0 waterfallin the background. The hobby is a personal thing, and I practice it this way Lee Vande Visse is a technical illustrator in Kalmbach Pub- and call myself a model railroader with the same pride as lis/ling's art department and the author of many articles for thosewho sweat their evenings awaywith timetables in hand MODEL RAILROADER. and Great Model Railroads. Lee has trying to keep up with the demands of clock and dispatcher. modeled in many scales butprefers 0 scale nanow gauge. AUGUST 1998 · MODEL RAILROADER 113